How far are global croplands from environmental sustainability ?

How far are global croplands from environmental sustainability ? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article How far are global croplands from environmental sustainability ? Marcellin Guilbert, Silvia Ceausu, Siyu Hou, Xu Zhao, Peiyu Cao, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8919373/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Current agri-food production puts significant pressures on our planet. Yet which crops exceed environmental boundaries, by how much, and where remains unclear. Here we present a global, high-resolution (~9 km), crop-specific assessment of cropland environmental sustainability circa 2020, evaluating greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen use, freshwater use, biomass appropriation, and biodiversity loss against locally-defined environmental boundaries. Less than 1% of cropland operates below all five boundaries, while one-quarter exceeds four or more, with critical hotspots in South and East Asia and across OECD countries. Boundary transgressions are largely driven by regional staple crops such as wheat, maize, and rice, with contributions varying across environmental dimensions. Yet, mapping the crops responsible for local boundary exceedances reveals strong spatial heterogeneity in the levers for sustainability transitions. Our findings provide a spatially-explicit, crop-specific diagnosis of global cropland environmental sustainability, offering a foundation for policies to steer production toward environmental targets. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Scientific community and society/Agriculture Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SIHowfarareglobalcroplandsfromenvironmentalsustainability.pdf Supplementary Information SupplementaryData1.xlsx Corrrespondence Table between Mialyk et al (2024) and MapSpam2020 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8919373","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":616035095,"identity":"dbbc1d26-2042-423a-8c5a-64dcbac4b8c2","order_by":0,"name":"Marcellin Guilbert","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Laboratoire de Géologie, École normale supérieure, CNRS, PSL Université, IPSL, Paris, France","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marcellin","middleName":"","lastName":"Guilbert","suffix":""},{"id":616035096,"identity":"7bac714e-3b2d-4ff6-bc64-01163b4f65c9","order_by":1,"name":"Silvia Ceausu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6278-6075","institution":"Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Silvia","middleName":"","lastName":"Ceausu","suffix":""},{"id":616035097,"identity":"aa4f0849-c784-455a-8b6d-397d2e4a3680","order_by":2,"name":"Siyu Hou","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1465-3531","institution":"Integrated Research on Energy, Environment and Society (IREES), Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG), University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; 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